High school math contest: Chance for your student and department to win up to $5000

The American Mathematical Society is conducting a national contest for high school students, Who Wants to Be a Mathematician, with a top prize of $5000 for the winning student and $5000 for the math department of that student's school. There is no fee to participate.

*When/where: The 2012 contest will take place Friday, January 6, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. The event is part of the Joint Mathematics Meetings, which take place January 4-7, 2012.
*Travel: The AMS will reimburse reasonable travel expenses and room and board for each contestant and a parent/guardian for a maximum of two nights. Contestants and their parent(s)/guardian(s) are welcome to attend other events at the meeting.

*Qualifying: Contestants are chosen based on their scores on a qualifying test, administered by teachers (or in the case of home-schooled students, by whomever does the teaching at home).
*Request a qualifying test by emailing the AMS Public Awareness Office, paoffice@ams.org, with the subject line "National math contest." In the body of the message, include your name, school, contact information, and courses taught this year.
*Deadline for receipt of tests is Wednesday, Oct. 19. The AMS will select 10 contestants from different regions of the US and will notify those qualifiers beginning Friday, Oct. 21.

*Contest format: There will be two semifinal games, each with five of the contestants. The winners of the two semifinals will go "head-to-head" in the finals for the national championship. The champion will win $5000 for himself or herself, $5000 for your math department, a traveling trophy for you to display at the school until the 2013 contest, a trophy for the school/department to keep, and an individual trophy for the winner to keep. All contestants will win prizes, cash for themselves, and cash for your department (the minimum cash prize is $500 for the student and $500 for the department).

*See more about the contest at the AMS website.

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